Chapter 16

What is the idea behind asynchronous programming?

Asynchronous programming is a model of programming that focuses on coordinating different tasks in an application with the goal that the application will use the least amount of time to finish executing those tasks. An asynchronous program switches from one task to another when it is appropriate to create overlap between the waiting and processing time, and therefore shorten the total time taken to finish the whole program.

How is asynchronous programming different from synchronous programming?

In synchronous programming, the instructions of a program are executed sequentially: a task has to finished executing before the next task in the program starts processing. With asynchronous programming, if the current task takes a significant amount of time to finish, you have the option to specify at one time during the task to switch the execution to another task.

How is asynchronous programming different from threading and multiprocessing?

Asynchronous programming keeps all of the instructions of a program in the same thread and process. The main idea behind asynchronous programming is to have a single executor switch from one task to another if it is more efficient (in terms of execution time) to simply wait for the first task for a while, while processing the second.